


Step Into Christmas

by Songbird321



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Awful Family Parties and Drinking Too Much, Being With the One You Love, Christmas Fluff, Christmas Lights, Decorating Before December, F/F, F/M, First Kisses, Holding Hands, Holidays, Ice Skating, Long-Distance Relationship, M/M, Melting Hearts, Mistletoe, Piggyback Rides, Slow Dancing, Watching Old Movies, making cookies, piano playing, snow ball fights
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-03
Updated: 2017-12-23
Packaged: 2019-02-10 05:15:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,710
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12904872
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Songbird321/pseuds/Songbird321
Summary: 12 Days of Holiday Themed One-Shots featuring 12 different pairings.I've been meaning to do this for three years now, so here it goes!





	1. You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch

**Author's Note:**

> Hey readers! I hope you're here for some holiday cheer, cause that's what I intend to spread with this little collection of one-shots. I've been playing with these ideas for about three years now, and I decided to finally make those dreams a reality. 
> 
> I know I may not have picked your favorite ship, I actually left out some of my favorites. But I thought it would be fun to have a variety like this, and I hope that you think so too!
> 
> The update schedule for this series won't be regular; it'll be as I finish them. Never fear, all will be done by Christmas. 
> 
> Happy reading!

It wasn’t that Levi didn’t like the holidays. Truthfully, he did. But at an appropriate time. Starting the festivities too early ruined the whole effect. The holiday season was special because it only came once a year, for a few weeks of merriment to break up the monotony of everyday life. 

The problem was this was one of the only things he and Erwin disagreed about. 

“You’re gonna kill yourself,” Levi called, just loud enough that Erwin could hear him from his spot on the roof of their house, where the blonde man thought they needed to string lights the day after Thanksgiving. Erwin’s parents had just left not an hour ago, and the man was already on the roof. Levi wasn’t having that.

“I’m taking my chances,” Erwin called back, methodically securing the lights to the gutter. To be fair, he was being extra careful, and he wasn’t all that clumsy, and there wasn’t even any snow or ice up there to be a slipping hazard, and it wasn’t that Levi was actually worried just more generally annoyed that this was happening at all. 

“Are you almost done?” Levi called up after a few moments of silently watching his husband with an irritated expression that he knew Erwin wasn’t paying attention to passed. 

“Does it look like I’m almost done?” Erwin replied, voice bright to hide his sarcasm. Levi groaned. 

“I’m going inside.”

“You should start setting up the tree!” Erwin called as Levi marched towards the door. “And put some Christmas music on! You need to get in the spirit!”

“I already told you, I’m not joining in your decorating until it’s December,” Levi called back before shutting the door behind him. He shook his head as he kicked off his shoes and pulled off his coat. He really didn’t understand how people could move on so quickly between holidays. They’d barely made it through Thanksgiving; he needed a bit more recovery time to get into the Christmas spirit. 

As he moved down the hallway into the kitchen, Levi found himself in front of a small stack of cardboard boxes that hadn’t been there this morning. Eyebrows knitting together, Levi knelt down and found labels written on each box in Sharpie. _Christmas Decorations 1 – For Erwin. Tree Ornaments – For Erwin. Christmas Decorations 2- For Erwin._ The Smiths must have dropped these off before they left for home that morning. And by the looks of it, they’d been saving these for their son for a while. 

Christmas was very important to the Smiths. That was one of the first things Levi had learned when he and Erwin met in college, even before they’d even considered falling in love. Christmas had been Erwin’s parents’ favorite holiday, and they’d passed on their love of the season to both of their kids. A lot of their most precious family memories came from nights decorating the house together, or baking cookies together, or just sitting around the living room and enjoying each other’s company. Christmas time was special to them, a time when they could all be together on matter what. 

And they were probably happier than Levi would ever know that they’re son finally had a home and a spouse of his own to share that love with too. 

A smile had spread on Levi’s lips at the sight of the boxes and his body automatically moved to open the first one. He pulled open the sturdy cardboard lid, and found a collection of decorations wrapped tightly in bubble wrap. He carefully reached for the one closest to him, slowly unwrapping the piece, afraid it might turn out to be fragile. 

Under the bubble wrap, Levi found a ceramic angel. It looked old, probably passed down from Erwin’s great-grandparents or something. The paint on the angel’s face was fading slightly, but her gentle smile and bright eyes still looked out as if watching over a dear loved one. Levi turned the angel over his hands, admiring the piece. A hint of handwriting caught his eye, and he turned the angel upside down and found an inscription written in pen in the hollowed out skirt of the angel, in handwriting he didn't recognize as belonging to either of Erwin's parents. 

_To my dearest son, on his first Christmas with his beloved wife. May this angel watch over you and bring you peace, joy, and most importantly, love._

Levi couldn’t help but smile. He still didn’t know exactly who this angel had belonged to, and how long it had been in the family, but he knew that it would mean the world to Erwin that his parents had passed it on to him. 

Gently setting the angel to the side, Levi reached for the next decoration in the box. He peeled away the bubble wrap to find a stuffed snowman. The snowman was wearing a red woolen hat, with a blue and red plaid scarf to match. Levi peered into the box, and saw a few other wrappings that likely held a matching snowman family. He chuckled to himself. Guess they’d have some extra company in the house this year. 

Levi set the snowman aside before reaching for one more thing from the box, reaching past the snowmen to something shaped differently. This one felt like a picture frame, and as he slowly unwrapped the piece, Levi realized his prediction had been right. But he hadn’t been ready for what he found. 

A picture of a six-year-old Erwin and a seven-year-old Susanna smiled up at him, both of them dressed in their Christmas best, Susanna in a little red dress and Erwin in a tiny red sweater vest with a green bowtie. They were standing on the porch of their parent’s house, arms wrapped haphazardly around each other, eyes sparkling in the lights strung around the porch pillars (or at least Susanna’s eyes sparkled; Erwin was blinking or squinting or smiling so hard that his eyes had closed). And the frame itself looked like the work of one of those happy kids, with a splotchy layer of green paint and an exorbitant amount of stamps, white snowflake and red Christmas trees. 

Smiling warmly, Levi turned the frame over and found an inscription on the frame. _Susanna, age 7, Erwin age 6. Christmas Eve. Frame painted by Erwin._

Turning the frame to the picture side once more, Levi stared down at the boy his husband had once been, smiling so hard he was squinting, holding onto his sister like she was his best friend, dressed to the nines as only a six-year-old could be. 

There was only one thing Levi could think to do in that moment. 

When Erwin came inside forty minutes later, having finally finished the lights, the first thing he saw was the three decorations Levi had unwrapped sitting proudly on the kitchen counter. Erwin smiled at them for a moment, amusedly puzzled, before turning to look at the living room, where Levi was standing next to the fully set-up Christmas tree with a proud smile. When he met Erwin’s eyes, he clicked the ‘on’ button on the power strip by his foot, and the tree glittered with multi-colored lights. 

Erwin’s eyes widened to the size of saucers. 

“I didn’t want to decorate it without you, but I brought the ornament box in here and started unwrapping some,” Levi said, pointing to the coffee table, which was littered with tree ornaments, some newly bought and others years old from Erwin’s childhood. “I thought you would want to do this together.”

“I thought you said you weren’t decorating until December,” Erwin replied, unable to stop himself from smiling. He did his best though, crossing his arms to try to look sarcastic when all he wanted to do was race into the living room and kiss Levi until New Years.

Levi shrugged. “Your shitty picture frame changed my mind.”

Erwin’s smile widened. “And the Grinch’s heart grew three sizes that day.”

Levi huffed, turning back to the ornament box. “Shut up, and come help me with these ornaments. Your childhood art skills are starting to depress me.”

Erwin laughed, eagerly joining his husband in the living room and kissing his cheek before kneeling in front of the box and pulling out an ornament, immediately rattling off the story behind it. As he listened to Erwin talk, Levi smiled, and realized he’d never been quite so excited for Christmas before.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the first drabble I've written for this pairing so I hope you enjoyed it!!!


	2. I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jean's not a fan of winter or ice skating. But there are few things in the world Marco can't convince him to try at least once.

Oh, what Jean Kirschtein would do for love. 

Jean despised winter with a burning passion, one his mother used to joke could melt the snow. He didn’t like snow or ice or the wind that bites at your skin or the air that’s so cold your limbs go numb. He despised the perpetually gray skies, and the way the snow blinded him on the occasional sunny day. He hated having to wear layer upon layer, just to end up shivering anyway. In general, Jean hated being cold, and was perpetually freezing for four straight months, and couldn’t get past that injustice. 

But there were three things that made winter better in Jean’s opinion. One thing was coffee, which arguably made everything better. But there was something about cradling a hot cup of coffee or hot cocoa in between gloved hands, the steam heating your cheeks as the sweet flavor graced your tongue, that made the darkness of the cold months more tolerable. The second thing was Christmas. Everything about it, from the music to the parties to the general feeling of cheer, made him happy. Christmas made the cold worthwhile for a few weeks, gave him something to focus on. 

The third thing was Marco, which, like coffee, tended to make everything better. Marco had a cheerfulness about him that pervaded everything he did, and he seemed to have a particular fixation on helping Jean enjoy winter. He went out of his way to find fun wintery activities for them to do together, which Jean could rarely say no to, the thought of seeing Marco’s eyes alight with joy as they held hands doing whatever he’d just suggested was too much of a temptation to ignore. That was how Marco had successfully gotten Jean to leave the house more than once a week since the start of December. And for the most part, Jean didn’t regret any of those decisions. 

But of course, there were times when Jean severely regretted saying yes to that smile. 

Like right now, when he was about to fall for the twenty-third time in the twenty minutes they’d been on the ice in the rink constructed at the center of town. 

“Marco! Marco, come back!” 

Marco peeked over his shoulder at his boyfriend, who was clinging helplessly to the side of the ice rink. He looked up at him with a look of pure terror on his face. Marco couldn’t stop a laugh from bubbling from his throat. Even as Jean’s face scrunched into a glare, Marco couldn’t stop his laughter. 

“Never mind. Leave me alone.”

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” Marco said as he skated back towards his boyfriend. Jean tried to take a step back, and ended up slipping. Marco caught him. “I’m sorry for laughing. You’re just so cute.”

“Go away.”

“You’re so grumpy!” Marco laughed, helping Jean regain his footing. “Come one! Live a little!”

“No. I refuse. Living is overrated,” Jean replied, lips pouting as he wrapped his arm through Marco’s, firmly rooting himself against his boyfriend. Marco smiled as Jean’s head leaned against his shoulder, hiding his face from view. Marco kissed the top of Jean’s red hat. 

“Come on. Just bear it a little longer for me,” the taller man said. Jean burrowed his head deeper into Marco’s shoulder, probably to hide a blush or a smile as he often did when Marco said things like that (it was a habit Marco took full advantage of.) “Okay, I’m going to keep skating now. Are you coming with me?” Jean nodded. “Okay.”

Marco set off, sliding his feet and gliding forward along the ice. Jean moved his feet in tandem, clinging tight to Marco’s arm as if he were a life raft on a stormy sea. Marco smiled. “Do you actually hate this?” he asked, a chord of worry in his tone that Jean picked up on, even without taking his eyes off of his feet as he struggled to stay upright on the ice. 

“No. Not really,” Jean replied. “I just don’t like looking like an idiot in front of people.”

“You don’t look like an idiot,” Marco said with a laugh. “Everyone falls ice skating!”

“You haven’t,” Jean countered. 

Marco rolled his eyes. “I’ve also been ice skating since I was five. My parents loved it and transferred that love to me and my siblings. It’s basically in my blood. But look at that guy!” He pointed to a group of high school kids, where the boys had just fallen rather ungracefully onto his butt. Jean snorted half-heartedly. “It’s a part of the experience!” 

“Well, experience or not, I’m not a fan,” Jean said. But he did raise his head from Marco’s shoulder, his grip loosening a bit on his boyfriend’s arm as they began their second circle around the rink. 

“And you also shouldn’t forget that you can never look dumb while wearing that jacket,” Marco added, avoiding Jean’s eyes on purpose. “Cause you look hot, and even if you fall, people won’t be like ‘Haha, he’s clumsy!’ but they’ll say ‘Damn, that guy looks classy as hell!’” 

Jean hit his shoulder lightly. “Shut up,” he grumbled around a smile. 

“I’m serious!” Marco replied, chuckling slightly. 

“I never said you were wrong,” Jean replied, glancing sideways at Marco with a half smirk that threatened to turn Marco’s knees to jelly and force him to push Jean up against the wall of the ice rink and rip that classy jacket off of him. The thought made him blush, and he turned to look at the city around them. The trees surrounding the rink were all covered in lights, and as the sun had officially set an hour ago, they lit up the night was a glittering aura of cheer. Marco smiled, turning back to his boyfriend to find Jean staring at him. 

“What?” Marco asked. 

“Just… the way you look right now,” Jean said, still staring fixedly at Marco with the look he only ever had when he was critiquing sketches or photos. “In this light, in this weather… It suits you.” The blush from before came back with a revenge now as Jean’s critical eyes melted into a soft smile he seemed to save for Marco alone. 

Before Marco could reply, a group of teenagers zoomed past them on the ice, flying so fast that both men had to fight to keep their balance. And while both of them were able to stay standing, the little girl skating in front of them fell to her knees. 

“Hey!” Jean yelled after them, skating a step away from Marco. The boys didn’t stop, probably didn’t even hear him. With a frustrated huff, Jean skated forward to the girl, who looked like she was fighting very hard not to cry, and held out his hands. “Here you go,” he said softly. The girl blinked up at him once before taking his hands and standing up with his help. She wobbled a few times and Jean helped keep her steady. “See? You’re a natural,” Jean praised. The little girl smiled, one tooth missing, as she thanked Jean for saving her. He smiled back and gave her a gentle push forward to start going again. 

He was watching her go when Marco skated up to him, wrapping his arms around Jean’s waist and cooing: “Look at you, being a hero!”

“Oh please,” Jean said, shrugging Marco off. “Those kids were being jerks. She didn’t deserve that.”

“I’m really proud of you.” Marco smiled, warm and happy, as he took Jean’s hands in his, squeezing tight through both of their gloves. 

“For saving a child? That’s something you do, like, every day,” Jean replied, eyebrows wrinkling in confusion.

“Well, for that, but also for skating on your own without falling,” Marco said, overemphasizing the last part. Jean’s eyes widened as he looked at the ice in disbelief. 

“Holy shit, I skated,” Jean said incredulously. He turned to Marco, mouth agape in awe. He squeezed Marco’s hands in joy. “Holy shit, I skated!” 

“You skated!” Marco repeated excitedly.

“Wow,” Jean breathed, shaking his head. “I can’t believe all it took was a child in trouble to teach me how to ice skate.” 

“See? I told you you had it in you,” Marco praised, kissing Jean’s nose. Before he could pull away, Jean grabbed his scarf and pulled Marco’s lips down to meet his own. If it weren’t for the teenagers racing past again, they might have stayed like that for a while longer. 

“I think that might be a sign for us to call it quits,” Jean said, smiling reluctantly. “Having to share the ice with those clowns is the opposite of romantic.”

“Clowns,” Marco laughed as he set off for the door to get off the rink, Jean’s hand firmly held in his own. They both shared a laugh as the ambled out of the rink and found an empty bench to put their shoes back on. 

As soon as both of them were ready, Marco stood up and clapped his hands. “Come on, I promised you coffee to go skating with me. I haven’t forgotten,” Marco said, grabbing Jean’s hand as the other man rose to his feet. “Where shall we go, sir? Anywhere you want.”

“How about we go to The Interior?” Jean suggested innocently. 

Marco groaned. “But their hot chocolate is the _worst_! And their cookies suck.” If there was anything Marco hated, it was lousy hot chocolate and crappy cookies. He was incredibly passionate about both. He wasn’t a fan of coffee or tea, and relied on hot chocolate to get him through any trip to a coffee shop. And he was a strong advocate for cookies as the best dessert item imaginable. And he was of the opinion that both items weren’t worth the time if they weren’t good. So it mattered to him that The Interior had watery hot chocolate and cookies that were hard as rocks with the flavor to match. 

Jean shrugged. “You said I could pick where we go and we never go to the Interior…”

Then again, he could stomach a tasteless cup of watery hot chocolate to be able to see the smile on Jean’s face drinking what he considered to be the best coffee he’d ever had. 

Marco sighed, fighting a smile. “Fine.”

Oh, what Marco Bodt would do for love.


	3. Frosty the Snowman

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Falco's crushing hard on Gabi, and would give almost anything just to hold her hand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is my first time writing most of these characters, so I hope they aren't too out of character! Enjoy!

“Falco, have you ever built a snowman before?” Zophia asked with a horribly concealed snicker. 

“Yes!” Falco snapped back from where he was on his knees rolling the head for his snowman. 

“Well it doesn’t look like it,” Zophia replied, eyeing the clumpy body of Falco’s half-built snowman, with the second body piece sitting lopsided on top of the base. 

“Aw, shut up,” Falso replied, eyebrows wrinkling as he angrily packed his snowman’s head together. He dropped his voice to a whisper as he added, “And don’t let Gabi hear you say that.”

A smile Falco missed crossed Zophia’s face. “And why is that?”

“Just…” Falco peeked over his shoulder at Gabi, who was rolling her own ridiculously large snowman base with her entire body. “Just don’t, okay?”

“Alright,” Zophia said with a knowing smile as she turned back to her own snowman, which she was styling to look like Mr. Galliard so she could give him angry eyebrows made out of two large sticks she’d found. 

Falco sighed, peeking at Gabi once more before abandoning his significantly less lumpy head to fix up his base and body. As he set the body more firmly on top of the base, he heard Gabi’s laughter ring out, and he turned around to see her laying in the snow, limbs spread out like a star. 

“It’s too big!” she exclaimed with another laugh. 

“I told you you were making it too big,” Udo replied, giving her large snowman base a nervous glance. “You aren’t going to be able to get the body on top, much less the head…”

“Well, if I’m gonna make a snow Titan, it has to be big!” Gabi replied, using her arms to show just how big she intended to make her snow-titan. “And Reiner can help me put the head on. He’s tall enough.” Udo pursed his lips, cocking his head to the side as if to weigh how likely that was. Gabi didn’t wait for him deliberation, continuing to roll her giant snow body with all of her might. Falco sighed again, looked back at his own snowman. He figured he should fix it up before offering to help her finish hers, and set to look smoothing out the lumps of his own snowman hastily.

Zophia shook her head slowly, making eye contact with Udo. The boy shrugged, Zophia mirroring him. Looks like they’d have to take matters into their own hands. 

“Here,” Zophia said, kneeling down next to Falco at his snowman. She started to pack the snow of the body to be smoother. “I’ll help you.”

“I don’t need you help…”

“The sooner you finish the sooner you can help Gabi,” Zophia said in a sing-song, raising her eyebrows without making eye contact with Falco, who’s cheeks were turning bright red. 

Meanwhile, the adult warriors had just finished a meeting, and Zeke was leading them past the field were the trainees were enjoying their day off. The older man was in a heated discussion with Porco about something they’d just talked about, Pieck walking behind them with a bemused smile and laughing every now and then at Porco, with Reiner and Colt bringing up the rear, having their own discussion. 

“I love snow,” Colt said, smiling as he kicked at the pile next to the pavement. 

“It’s nice,” Reiner replied with an absent smile. “It gets kinda old, though.”

Colt nodded. “Yeah. But it’s new now, so we can’t be sick of it yet.” Reiner nodded, chuckling in agreement. Colt kicked at the snow again. “Think Pieck’ll kill me if I throw a snowball at her?”

“Do it,” Reiner said, a ghost of a smile crossing his lips. Colt wrapped his hands around the snowball one final time before releasing it right at the back of Pieck’s head.

But he missed. 

And hit Porco instead. 

Udo, who’d watched the whole thing, gasped, alerting all the kids’ attention to the scene about to unfold. 

Porco froze for a moment as Pieck snorted with laughter. The man turned slowly. It just so happened that at the peak of the momentum of the throw, Colt’s foot had caught a patch of ice and he’d fallen to the pavement. So the only person Porco saw was Reiner, who couldn’t keep himself from chuckling at the mistake. Which was a mistake in itself. 

“What the hell, Braun?!” Porco yelled, Pieck and Zeke stopping to watch what was happening. 

“It wasn’t me, I swear!” Reiner replied, but the fact that he was still laughing wasn’t helping. 

“Oh sure. Who was it then? The wind?” Porco asked, cocking his head to the side antagonistically. Reiner simply rolled his eyes, and held out a hand to help Colt up as the younger blonde man tried desperately to stutter an apology to Porco before the situation got worse. 

But it got worse anyway. Porco dipped his hands into the snow, packing together a snowball larger than Colt’s and throwing it with deadly accuracy at Reiner’s chest. Falco heard Gabi audibly gasp. Reiner took a step back from the impact, staring at the snowflakes clinging to his coat in the wake of the hit. He was frozen for a moment, Porco smiling on triumphantly, Colt wide-eyed with shock, Pieck smiling as if she knew something no one else did, Zeke slightly shaking his head. 

Reiner met Porco’s eyes. He gave him a sideways smile. “Bring it on.” 

Zeke continued to shake his head as he turned around and walked away as both of the young men dove for the snow and began to pack snowballs. Porco called for Pieck to help, and the young woman immediately knelt down and began to slowly roll a snowball together. Colt jumped in to help Reiner, whispering a strategy into his ear. 

And then, the kids could hardly see anything as the snow began to fly, mostly from Pieck and Porco’s side. 

“Oh my gosh,” Zophia gasped. “I’ve never seen anything like this...”

“Is my brother gonna die?” Falco asked, actually a tad bit concerned. 

“Nah, Miss Pieck said they used to have snowball fights like this all the time when they were kids,” Zophia replied. “They’ll be fine…”

“We have to go help Mr. Braun!” Gabi declared. 

“Noooo,” Udo exclaimed. “It’s so cold!”

“Gabi, I think it would be best if we don’t interfere,” Falco replied, gently grabbing the girl’s shoulder to keep her back. Gabi wrenched herself free from his grasp and ran forward into the chaos, scooping up a generous armful of snow on the way. Falco groaned, running his hands over his face.

“Well, aren’t you gonna follow her?”

Blue eyes blinked up at Zophia in surprise. The girl nodded after Gabi. “You like her, don’t know? Show her you support her in battle, and maybe she’ll let you hold her hand.”

Falco felt his cheeks begin to burn as he shook his head. “I don’t like Gabi!”

Zophia’s eyes narrowed skeptically as she crossed her arms over her chest. “Yes you do.” 

“No!”

“Yes.”

“NO!”

“Yes!” 

“Oh my gosh, Falco, you know you only deny things like this if it’s true!” Udo said, stepping between Falco and Zophia. The blonde boy felt like his face was about to catch fire. “And it’s not like we’re gonna judge you for it. It’s actually kinda cute. That you like her. We think you should go for it.”

Falco smiled, looking down at his feet. “Thanks, I… wait, we?”

Zophia and Udo shared a guilty smile. “We uh… may’ve figured this out a while ago and have um… _discussed_ you two a few times,” Udo said in reply. Falco’s jaw dropped.

“We fully support you two, by the way,” Zophia added. “Cuter than Miss Pieck and Mr. Galliard…”

“Ew! Stop! We’re not dating!” Falco exclaimed. 

“Not _yet_ ,” Zophia replied. Falco stuck his tongue out. “Just go get her, you dweeb!”

With one more glance at Udo, who nodded encouragingly, Falco took a deep breath and ran after Gabi. He scooped up a handful of snow, packing it into a tight ball as he approached the fray. Gabi had joined up with Reiner and Colt, and Falco slid to their side too, whipping his snowball at Porco, but missing by about eight feet. 

“Falco! Welcome to the team!” Colt called, clapping his brother on the shoulder. Gabi nodded at him approvingly. Falco felt his heart skip a few beats. But they quickly passed as a snowball grazed the side of his ear, and he snapped back into action, rapidly building snowballs for Colt, Reiner, and Gabi to throw. 

Things got even more intense when Udo and Zophia jumped in with Porco and Pieck, making it more of a fair fight. Gabi moved back to building ammunition with Falco, the two of them working side by side, hands nearly touching a number of times. Falco couldn’t believe his luck, heart pounding in his chest from the excitement of being so close to Gabi, but also with the adrenaline of the fight. 

Or at least he was until a stray snowball made it past their first defenses and nailed him straight between the eyes. 

“FALCO!” Gabi cried as he fell on his back, a small wave of snow pluming beneath him. Falco blinked a few times, forehead stinging. 

“CEASE FIRE!” Reiner called. 

“SURRENDERING ALREADY?!” Porco called back. 

“YOU HIT MY BROTHER!” Colt exclaimed as he ran to Falco, sliding on his knees next to him. “Falco? Falco, can you hear me?” 

“Y-yeah,” Falco replied, confusedly, blinking up at his brother. Colt looked scared, as did Gabi, who now knelt on his other side. Reiner appeared above Colt’s shoulder, Zophia and Udo popping up not a moment later. 

“Udo, Zophia, will you two go alert a medic?” Reiner asked. _A medic?!_ Falco thought. 

“Wait, why…?” 

But Falco’s words were cut off by the feeling of someone taking his hand. He looked down, following the fingers around his up to the face of the girl holding his hand. His breath caught. 

“Don’t worry, Falco, you’re gonna be okay,” Gabi said reassuringly. “It’s just a little cut. And you’re tough. You’ll be fine!” She smiled at him. _At him!_

Falco nearly passed out from the amount of butterflies that exploded in his stomach, scaring everyone gathered half to death.


	4. Silent Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Every year, Historia hopes that things will have changed with her family. But even when they don't, she'll always have Ymir by her side.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As you can probably tell, I've fallen quite a bit behind with this project. I got caught up in some Secret Santa fanwork gift exchanges, and got a little too perfectionist with them and they sapped all my creative energy. So we're going to sprint to get these finished in the next few days! In order to do that, I'm going a bit out of order to get these finished as the inspiration comes. You can hopefully expect a few more today! 
> 
> As for now, I'm skipping ahead to Ymir and Historia's story. I hope you enjoy!

“I’m so sorry.”

“Please, don’t apologize. You had nothing to do with it,” Ymir said as Frieda Reiss followed her to the hallway. She began to pull on her shoes and coat as quickly as possible. “From the way she talks, I think she expected something like this to happen.”

Frieda nodded. “She usually does. But she never stops hoping that every year, things might be different.”

Ymir nodded sadly. “I know. It’s kinda heartbreaking.” 

Frieda smiled sadly. “But at least she has you to take care of her now.”

“Right.” Ymir flashed her a bright smile and a wink as she stood. “Well, guess I better go catch her before she hits the street. Thank you for hosting us. The party itself was lovely.”

“It’s just the people involved that ruin it,” Frieda finished the words Ymir didn’t dare speak to her. “I know my family’s a mess.”

“But you’re still a good daughter and deal with them,” Ymir said, squeezing Frieda’s elbow. 

Frieda returned the gesture, still smiling softly at Ymir. “I’ll stop by tomorrow.” 

“She’d love that,” Ymir replied, reaching for the door. “I’d apologize for our hasty exit, but I’m really not sorry, and don’t think she is either.”

“No apology needed. I’d leave with you, but I can’t leave Uncle Urie alone with Dad,” Frieda said apologetically. 

“Understandable,” Ymir nodded. 

“Drive safe.”

“I will.”

With a final wave, Ymir disappeared into the hallway, Frieda closing the door behind her. Frieda was the only person in Historia’s family that Ymir actually liked, mostly because she was the only one who seemed to care at all about Historia. And she knew that Frieda had a special liking for her for the same reason. 

Speaking of, Historia was siting in the hallway right outside the door, studying the nearly empty wine bottle in her hand. Ymir moved to sit next to her, sighing as she slid down the wall to the rough hallway carpet. 

“How’s the wine?”

“Shitty,” Historia replied with a sarcastic eyebrow raise. She was still staring blankly at the bottle. “I’m so sad my taste buds have stopped working.”

Ymir gave a laugh. “Is that how it works?”

Historia nodded, still avoiding eye contact. “Yeah, all the depression just builds up and clogs your senses until everything just feels numb and life becomes pointless because everything that once brought you joy is just a whole lot of senseless static.” Ymir frowned as Historia tipped the bottle back and drank half of the remaining liquid. 

“Do you feel like that a lot?” Ymir asked softly. 

Historia shrugged. “Only when my family comes up.”

Ymir let a beat of silence fall between them. “You want to talk?”

“Not yet.”

“Okay. You want to go home?” Historia nodded. “Alright.” Ymir pushed herself to her feet then held out her hands to her girlfriend. “On your feet, honey.”

Historia begrudgingly set the wine bottle aside and took Ymir’s hands, letting herself be pulled to her feet. Ymir swooped down and snagged the bottle for her, sure that Historia wouldn’t be able to stay on her feet if she attempted to get it. Wrapping an arm around Historia’s waist to keep her standing, Ymir shepherded her towards the elevators. 

“You remember where the car is?” Historia asked as the metal doors slid open and Ymir led her inside. 

“Probably,” Ymir shrugged, hitting the button for the lobby. “I think we were two blocks away or something?”

“Yeah.” Historia finished the last of her wine and sighed. Ymir frowned, running a hand through her girlfriend’s hair. 

“It’s gonna be okay,” she whispered softly. 

“Yeah,” Historia said listlessly. Ymir wasn’t sure if she was listening to her or not, and didn’t blame her if she wasn’t. 

The elevator arrived at the lobby and Ymir led Historia through the room, decorated lavishly for the holidays, and out into the street. The night had grown cold, threatening snow. Ymir’s arm stayed put around Historia as they started walking down the street towards their car. 

About half a block into their walk, Historia stopped walking with a huff. She kicked her heels off, picking them up in her hand and strutting forward again, nothing but a thin layer of tights between her feet and the pavement. Ymir stifled a laugh, pulling Historia to a stop by her hand. 

“Come here,” Ymir said, gesturing for Historia to get on her back. To her surprise, Historia complied without complaint, climbing on Ymir’s back, wrapping her arms around the taller girl’s shoulders and resting her head against her shoulder. 

Ymir smiled as she kept walking down the street. Their car wasn’t too far now. She heard Historia mumbling something against her shoulder, but figured she’d wait to ask her about it until they were in the car. She was sure it had something to do with the screaming match that had just gone down between Historia, her father, and her older brother. Frieda and Ymir had tried to jump in on Historia’s side, and Historia’s Uncle Urie had also tried to vouch for Historia and tried to get his brother to stop, but it was all hopeless. This happened every year. Every year that horrible man made Historia feel like nothing. No matter what she did, no matter how successful she was, she was never and would never be good enough for him. And no matter how many times she said she didn’t care, she still did. And it hurt to watch her struggle with that pain every Christmas. 

But Historia would never turn down Frieda’s invitation. She loved Frieda too much, as well as her uncle and some of her younger siblings. But that didn’t justify anything to Ymir, not if Historia would be so broken up afterwards every year. 

They found the car, and Ymir carefully helped Historia into the passenger’s seat. Historia was still quiet, sometimes mouthing words to herself, but clearly not ready to talk just yet. Ymir simply slid into the driver’s seat, started the car, and began to drive. The Christmas station was playing, and she almost considered switching it, but Historia began to hum along to the music, so she let it play. 

They drove in this comfortable silence, Historia humming to the music and Ymir simply driving. The drive home wasn’t far, and Historia seemed much calmer by the time they reached their apartment building. 

Ymir parked the car and walked to the passenger’s side to help Historia out. The blonde girl still didn’t want to put her shoes on, but Ymir let it slide as they walked quickly into their own building and up the stairs. They lived on the third floor, and Historia seemed to want to take the steps this time, pulling Ymir by the hand as they got closer to home. 

When the door was unlocked, Historia moved straight to their bedroom, disappearing into the darkness. 

“Do you want tea?” Ymir called after her. 

“Yeah,” Historia replied quietly. 

Ymir moved to the kitchen and set the kettle to boil before returning to the bedroom. Historia was sitting on the bed, staring blankly at the wall in front of her, still fully dressed. Ymir smiled softly. 

“Come here,” she said, standing Historia up gently. She pulled off her girlfriend’s coat and scarf, draping them carelessly on the floor behind her. Historia didn’t move. 

Ymir gently undid the buttons and zipper on the back of Historia’s dress, and helped her slip out of it. She sat the blonde girl down on the bed, staring blankly in her bra and tights, before moving to find her pajamas. Ymir figured one of her hoodies would probably make Historia happy right now; she always loved to cuddle up in one of Ymir’s shirts or jackets when she needed some cheering up. Grabbing one of her navy crewnecks, and snagging a pair of pink and white checked pajama pants from Historia’s drawer, Ymir returned to the bed and set the clothes in Historia’s lap. 

“Put those on. You’ll feel better,” she directly softly, kissing Historia on the forehead. “You still want tea?” Historia nodded. “Okay. I’ll be right back, then.”

Ymir moved back into the kitchen, depositing Historia’s winter wear on the couch with her own before grabbing two mugs. She pulled out their tea box and selected two bags of peppermint tea, placing each into a mug as the kettle began to whistle. She poured steaming water into both mugs and let them steep for a few minutes, gathering some sugar and milk, pouring some milk into her own and adding some sugar to Historia’s. 

When the tea was ready, Ymir moved back into the bedroom. Historia had turned on the light on the bedside table, and was sitting up on her side of the bed, cuddling a throw pillow close to her chest. Silent tear tracks marred her cheeks. 

Ymir moved smooth and quick, depositing the mugs on her bedside table and quickly changing into her own pajamas, knowing Historia would much prefer to cuddle with her in cotton and flannel than whatever semi-fancy material she had worn to impress her girlfriend’s terrible family. 

In a matter of seconds, Ymir was under the covers, replacing the pillow as Historia wrapped her arms around her and hid her face in Ymir’s shoulder, silent sobs wracking her body.

“Shhhh, you’re okay,” Ymir soothed softly, running her hand through Historia’s hair. “You’re okay.”

“Why doesn’t he love me?” Historia choked out. 

“Because he’s an idiot,” Ymir replied, a shadow falling over her face that Historia couldn’t see. “A selfish, ignorant idiot who shouldn’t have slept around if he wasn’t willing to accept the consequences. Especially when the consequence was a perfect girl like you. He’s got to be stupid to not love a girl like you like his own stupid kids.”

Historia didn’t say anything, but hugged Ymir tighter. “I just…” she began, but gave up before she could finish. 

“It’s okay. If you’re not ready to talk, that’s okay.”

Historia nodded against Ymir’s shoulder. “I like this,” she said softly. “I like this right here.”

“So do I.” Ymir smiled. “So do I.”

She held Historia for a few more minutes, silently alternating between stroking her hair and rubbing small circles into her back, slowly feeling the shorter girl’s muscles relax and breathing even out. When she was sure Historia had fallen asleep, the blonde girl moved back and rubbed her cheeks, trying to remove the tear tracks that would be gone by morning. She held her hands out and Ymir gave her her mug, still warm. 

“We couldn’t let your hard work go to waste,” she said with a smile.

“And now it’s cool enough not to burn anything,” Ymir added, raising her mug to Historia before taking a sip. Historia smiled. Ymir smiled back. 

They talked quietly about absolutely nothing as they drank their tea, avoiding all matters of seriousness in order to dispel the bad feelings of the evening. They could talk through all of that tomorrow. What mattered now was this, the two of them, together, loving one another. And that was all they needed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed it! Hope to see you all later today with a few more drabbles!

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed it!!!
> 
> Your comments mean the world to me, so don't be scared to drop one below! 
> 
> See you soon!


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